The Comedians (1967)

27% of critics liked it
(11 reviews)
47% of users liked it
(549 ratings)

The humorous title of this story taken from the novel by Graham Greene gives the viewer the wrong impression. The story concerns the residents of a once-posh hotel in Haiti and the fate of the country's people under the despotic dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) is the… More The humorous title of this story taken from the novel by Graham Greene gives the viewer the wrong impression. The story concerns the residents of a once-posh hotel in Haiti and the fate of the country's people under the despotic dictator Papa Doc Duvalier. Martha (Elizabeth Taylor) is the philandering wife of a South American ambassador Peter Ustinov. She seeks solace in the arms of hotel-owner Brown (Richard Burton), whose main focus is to keep making improvements on his crumbling building. Alec Guinness plays Jones, the suave charlatan who claims to be a retired military officer to hide his vocation as a shadowy weapons dealer. Brown later gets a sudden twinge of morality and decides to go off to the mountains to help the rebels in their heroic cause. Watch for silent film great Lillian Gish as Mrs. Smith in this plodding drama. ~ Dan Pavlides, Rovi

Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 2 hr. 28 min.
Directed By: Peter Glenville
Written By: Graham Greene (I)
Genres: Drama, Classics, Comedy

In Theaters: Oct 31, 1967 Wide
On DVD: Dec 5, 2006

Critic Reviews

, TIME Magazine
At such moments of transcendent drama -- and there are enough to make it worthwhile -- The Comedians is easily forgiven its other sins.
Variety Staff, Variety
A plodding, low-key, and eventually tedious melodrama.
Bosley Crowther, New York Times
It is conventional and obvious, indeed, and is rendered no better or more beguiling by some rather superfluous additions of amorous scenes.
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
The movie tries to be serious and politically significant, and succeeds only in being tedious and pompous.
Dennis Schwartz, Ozus' World Movie Reviews
Uninspired political drama.
, TV Guide's Movie Guide
At 156 minutes, it seems interminable.
Walter Chaw, Film Freak Central
Far more interesting to deconstruct than to watch.
Geoff Andrew, Time Out
A sadly inept adaptation of Graham Greene's novel.
Ken Hanke, Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
Underrated version of Graham Greene's novel with a strong cast.

Read all 9 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

jay n

A bit confused and could have been cut into a tighter whole but an interesting document of a time and place that hasn't gotten a lot of treatment certainly not with a cast of this caliber. Leads are fine but the supporting cast of Guinness, Gish, Ford and Ustinov wrap it up.